GOP ups ante in Chuck Hagel fight

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee threatened on Monday to hold up the nomination of Chuck Hagel to become the next secretary of Defense if the committee supports him on Tuesday, vowing to force Democrats to come up with 60 votes to confirm him on the Senate floor.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) confirmed to POLITICO that he wanted to drag out the confirmation process for the former Republican senator from Nebraska.

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Graham: 'No confirmation without information'

Inhofe’s threat continued GOP brinksmanship that got under way on Sunday when Republican aides first said that some senators might walk out of a meeting that included a vote on Hagel. Inhofe and another top Republican on the committee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, both said Monday they would not walk out, but Inhofe repeated his vow to press the battle against Hagel.

Democrats, meanwhile, sounded eager to get the matter behind them. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) scheduled a vote for Tuesday afternoon and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said separately that he hoped the full Senate could vote on Hagel by Wednesday or Thursday.

But Republicans were counting on stretching that out.

“I would expect a party-line vote out of committee, and for the next big fight to happen when Hagel’s vote comes to the Senate floor,” said one GOP aide.

Democrats, who control the Senate, have a 14-12 majority on the Armed Services Committee. So far, only two Republicans — Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Thad Cochran of Mississippi — are supporting Hagel. Neither serves on the committee.

Levin faces a conundrum: He can force a party-line vote on Hagel, but that could damage the committee’s longtime bipartisan spirit.

Last Thursday’s hearing with Panetta alarmed Levin, Democrats said. He worries the aggressive, pointed questioning that Republicans directed at Panetta over the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, could signal that some Republicans simply will not compromise on the issue of Hagel’s nomination.

“Fed up is the right term for [Levin’s mood],” said a Democratic source. “After the Benghazi hearing, it showed what we are dealing with on the Republican side.”

One Armed Services Committee member, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, has made clear that he considers Benghazi and Hagel to be one issue — “no confirmation without information,” he said Sunday, threatening to block both Hagel and CIA nominee John Brennan. Graham is demanding more details from the administration about its response to the Benghazi attacks, particularly the direct involvement of President Barack Obama.

It was only Graham’s latest threat over Hagel.

Last Thursday’s Benghazi hearing that irked Levin had been convened partly to mollify Graham, who initially said he would hold up Hagel’s nomination process if Panetta didn’t testify. But Sunday’s comments showed Graham is not mollified.